UN chief calls for greater efforts to end enforced disappearance

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called for an end to all enforced disappearances in a message to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

"Victims of enforced disappearances are deprived of their liberty, kept in secret detention and seldom released. Often their fate remains unknown; they are frequently tortured and in constant fear of being killed," Ban said. "The prohibition of enforced disappearance is absolute. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance affirms unequivocally that the use of enforced disappearance is illegal under any circumstances, including war, internal political instability or any other public emergency."

The convention, which entered into force in 2010, has been signed by 93 States and ratified by 50. It provides a sound foundation for fighting impunity, protecting disappeared persons and their families and strengthening the guarantees provided by the rule of law -- including investigation, prosecution, justice and reparation, he said.

The secretary-general reminded people that "far from being a practice employed only in the past by military dictatorships, enforced disappearance continues to be used by some States."

Moreover, in recent years there has also been an alarming number of acts by non-state actors, including armed extremist and terrorist groups, that are tantamount to enforced disappearances and that are also gross abuses of human rights, said the message.

Ban urged all member States to ratify or acceded to the Convention without delay, while calling on the States parties to the Convention to implement it, so as to put an end to all enforced disappearances.

In December 2010, the UN General Assembly decided to declare Aug. 30 the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, to be observed annually beginning in 2011. Endit